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Carlos Alcaraz shared a special moment with Novak Djokovic after being crowned the Australian Open champion. The world No. 1 battled back from a set down to beat the 10-time former champion here 2-6 6-2 6-4 7-5, and then dropped to the floor in disbelief. It was a brutal loss for Djokovic, who had never come so close to a record 25th Grand Slam title.

Instead, it was Alcaraz who wrote his name in the history books, becoming the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam. And No. 4 seed Djokovic showed his class as he came around the net and embraced Alcaraz after championship point. They had a chat as they walked back to their benches, and the new Aussie Open winner has now explained that the embrace was about "respect".

"I mean, he just told me, 'Congratulations, you deserve it'. I just told him, like, 'It is always a pleasure'. It is always a pleasure to share the court with him, even more especially if it is in a final for Grand Slam," the world No. 1 said.

"Doesn't matter if this time I won. You know, every time that I'm able to feel that aura from him on the other side of the net, for me it's a privilege. It's an honour, and it is like a master class for me to try to learn as much as I can. I have huge respect to him as an athlete, as a person, and I'm just really grateful to be able to live experiences on and off the court. That embrace was about respect, I guess."

Alcaraz showed his class as he paid tribute to Djokovic during his victory speech and explained how inspiring the 24-time Major winner was. And he echoed his comments during his winner's press conference - tipping the Serbian superstar to lift big trophies this season.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion explained: "As I said on the speech, what he's doing is inspiring. It is inspiring for all the athletes. It's not only tennis player but all the athletes, even myself, what he's putting his body and his mind, his life into feel playing a final of a Grand Slam again, going against, you know, every people saying that he was not going to play another Grand Slam final or he was not going to beat Jannik or myself.

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"Then he comes and playing such great tennis and beating Jannik in the semi-final, and here in the final played such great tennis. So it's unbelievable what he's doing. You know, if he maintains this level of tennis during the whole season, he's going to, you know, win great things. You know, probably Master 1000 again.

"He's going to come to a Grand Slam final again. It depends how physically he is or how demanding physically is the tournament for him, but I think he's ready to keep winning the big tournaments in the tour."

Alcaraz himself proved some doubters wrong this fortnight. The Spaniard shocked the tennis world when he announced his split from Juan Carlos Ferrero during the off-season, after seven successful years together. Many questioned how he'd perform in his first tournament without the former No. 1 in his box. He came out as the champion and the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.

"It was a different preseason for me, so I just had to came back from unusual situation for me, which was difficult. A lot of people were talking about everything and having doubts about, you know, my level in this tournament," he explained.

"I didn't think about those people that had doubts about it. I came here just playing for myself, playing for my team. We all know how hard I worked, you know, in the preseason to be ready for this tournament, and I had too many things to think about, you know, during this tournament. Just focus on my game style, focus on myself, being passion, and that's all I thought about during this tournament. But, you know, once I get it, I just happy to prove all the people were wrong."